Reunion
by LadyRavenlocke
Summary: My take on the Reunion scene in Resident Evil: Zero. SPOILER ALERT! As this is a ResEvil fic, expect a little grossness, but not too bad.


This is my take on the reunion between Billy and Rebecca in the game. Hope you enjoy! Comments much appreciated.

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"Billy!"

The name burst from Rebecca's lips before she realized she'd spoken aloud, and she had no recollection of moving. She only knew that she was suddenly kneeling beside Billy's prone form, and that he wasn't moving. Oh god, he couldn't be...he wasn't...there! She smiled faintly as she detected the slightest rise and fall of his chest. No, he wasn't dead.

Reaching out, she hauled him into a sitting position. This was no easy task; the Marine was 163 pounds when bone dry. At the moment, he was both soaked through and dead weight. Still, he seemed to stir a little as she helped him sit up, coming awake with a cough that expelled the last of the water pooling in his lungs. She watched him critically as he gasped for air, forcing his eyes open. "Rebecca...where am I?" He asked, clearly disoriented.

Rebecca couldn't blame him for that. He hadn't been in the best of shape for the few moments she'd glimpsed him before. Now she could see the thin trickle of blood at the edge of his hairline; he'd taken a head injury of some kind. She'd have to check it in a little while, but this was far from the safest place, and Rebecca knew better than to think Billy would allow her to check him over. "You're safe now," she heard herself reply, then went on more hesitantly, "Are you okay?"

Before he could reply, something caught Billy's attention and his eyes widened a fraction, his lips parting as if to speak, but no words came. Just a whisper soft gasp. Confused by the man's odd behavior, Rebecca let her eyes follow Billy's gaze until a soft gasp escaped her, her own green eyes widening in shock.

Not far away was a dark mass, almost hard to see. Billy, however, had recognized it immediately, the silhouette too clear to mistake. It was a pile of human skeletons, and judging from the layer of sludge and slime that covered them, the poor bastards had been there a long time. Wordlessly, he rose to his feet, limping slightly as he made his way over to get a better look. He was dimly aware of Rebecca beside him, her own steps hesitant. "What could have done this?" she asked, disgust and disbelief fighting for dominance in her tone. Her voice was muffled, and a quick glance back revealed she was covering her mouth with one hand.

Billy's reply slipped from his lips before he realized he was speaking. "They must have been used as test subjects in Marcus' research," He said quietly, feeling bile rise in his throat, and an odd dizzy sensation at the edges of his mind that had nothing to do with the lump on his head. "He must have kept messing around with the Mother Virus!"

He may have said more, but he wasn't sure. The sight of the skeletons had unlocked something in his brain, and the images that flooded into his mind's eye threatened to overwhelm him with their clarity. It wasn't those long decayed corpses he saw, but the bullet-riddled bodies of the innocent villagers he'd tried to save. Glassy eyes stared at him imploringly, blood-stained lips parted in silent screams that somehow echoed in his head.

Rebecca watched in a kind of mute shock as Billy went rigid, a sudden sweat breaking out over his skin as his eyes went wide, unfocusing. There was an expression in those blue depths that Rebecca had never seen before. It was an emotion she hadn't even been sure Marines could have.

Fear.

It was pure, unadulterated fear in Billy Coen's eyes.

Watching him quietly, Rebecca couldn't even begin to guess what it was Billy was seeing at first. But the sweat, and his sudden uneven rhythm of breathing, the tiny gasps for breath that were going to do little more than make him hyperventilate, those told her enough. They were the classic symptoms of a PTSD flashback. Taking into account the story he'd given her before about his last mission, she could not only guess what the trigger had been, but just what he was seeing. "Billy?" she murmured, hoping to bring him back to himself.


End file.
